Beauty and the Beast
by AniJay
Summary: An AU of a fairy tale using characters from LOSH, this is the story of how Tinya Wazzo met Timber Wolf and changed his life.
1. Chapter 1

_Beauty and the Beast belongs to Disney, and LOSH belongs to DC. An AU of a fairy tale using characters from LOSH, I hope that this story turns out as well online as it does in my head._

**Beauty and the Beast**

There was one path that ran through the forests of Rawl. Only one path that was safe, anyway. All others led into the dangerous depths of the forest that skirted the edges of New Metropolis. Stories of the fearsome monster that lived there kept anyone and everyone away. There was only one man who had ever come from the forests of Rawl and lived to tell the tale.

Dr. Mar Londo was a brilliant but radical scientist whose experiments practically lived in the realm of illegal activity. Though no one knew the complete truth, the story was that he and his son had built a house somewhere deep in the forest so that he could conduct his questionable experiments in solitude. Years later, he had fled Rawl. He claimed he had been driven out by a monster that had brutally murdered his son, Brin. Now he lived in New Metropolis, making a lot of money off his numerous inventions. It was his newfound wealth that led him to Senator Winema Wazzo's office. With his money and her influence, he had high hopes at re-establishing a private, off-grid facility to work in without having to worry about any legal repercussions. Even though the authorities _knew _that he was breaking the law, they could never prove it, and he wanted to keep it that way.

"So, what you're saying is, you'll fund my campaign to run for President if I help you build a facility to work in and agree to look the other way, despite the fact that I know your 'research' is wrong both morally and legally?" Senator Wazzo clarified as she regarded the shrewd man sitting across from her in her office.

"I believe that this arrangement will be mutually beneficial for both of us, if those terms are agreeable," he said with the self-satisfied air of one who knows that he has already won the fight before it's begun.

Senator Wazzo hesitated. Personally, she found this man unsettling and his research abhorrent. What he was asking her to do was wrong for so many reasons. As much as she knew she needed the financial support he was offering, she couldn't agree to his terms in good conscience. Folding her hands calmly in front of her, she met his gaze as she said, "I'm sorry, but those terms are not agreeable. What you are suggesting is that I accept a bribe so that you may resume conducting experiments that are blatantly in opposition to the law." She placed her hands on the desk and rose to her feet. "The consequences for if anyone were to find out about this arrangement would be costly and that is a risk I am unwilling to take."

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," Dr. Londo said, also rising from his seat. He reached over and picked up a picture from the corner of the Senator's desk. He looked down at the dark-haired girl in the picture, grinning as she leaned against what must have been her first car. "It would be a shame if the science police were to find out that your beautiful daughter here had _extra _abilities that you kept hidden from the public. They might even wish to take a closer look and see what else might be hidden underneath that pretty smile."

Senator Wazzo stiffened. Her daughter's extra phasing abilities had been kept secret ever since they manifested three years ago when she was fifteen. People with metahuman capabilities were constantly monitored by the science police and the ones who were viewed as potential threats had the tendency to sometimes disappear for "scientific inquiry" regarding their powers. People always feared what they didn't understand. It had always been Winema's worst fear that her daughter would be taken away to some facility and treated like a lab rat by scientists that were as cold and heartless as the man standing in front of her. Those scientists presented a very real threat to her daughter's safety, because as horrible as Dr. Londo's research might be, his work wasn't legalized like theirs was. Being sanctioned by the government to do what was necessary for the safety of the public at large made them untouchable.

She sighed in defeat. She had no choice but to make a deal with the Devil himself. She only hoped that it was enough to keep her daughter safe.

"If I agree to your terms, do I have your word that you will keep her abilities secret?"

"Of course," he said smoothly. He adjusted his glasses slightly. "As long as you keep up your end of the bargain, I will keep that information to myself. However, you should know that if you break our deal, she might just disappear, and it might not be in the custody of the science police. I'm sure that there is much to learn from someone as special as she is."

"I will do as you ask," Senator Wazzo said, forcing herself to remain calm. No matter how shaken she felt, she refused to show weakness in front of him. She turned away to look out of the window behind her. "Now, get out of my office."

…

A month later Senator Wazzo was on her way to Zuun, a mining community that was located on the other side of Rawl which had resources and equipment that Dr. Londo insisted she retrieve for him. When she had tried to argue that pick-ups and deliveries was not part of their deal, he had calmly informed her that it was a onetime thing. A short trip to pick up the supplies he needed for his new facilities, and he would leave her alone.

"_Surely that's a small price to pay for your daughter's continued freedom?" he asked._

"_You already have your private facility and my silence. You're free to fetch it yourself," she shot back sharply. "I don't see why you need me to go."_

"_Because, the fastest way to get to Zuun is by traveling through Rawl, and I would not survive the journey if I were to ever enter those woods again. Safe path or no." His voice was deceptively calm and relaxed. He regarded her over his glasses carefully. "I need you to do this one last thing for me. After that, I will resume my research, and you won't have anything to worry about."_

In the end, she hadn't really had a choice. She had to go. She left early the next day once the sun was out so that she could keep to the safe path and not get lost. For some reason that no one had ever figured out, GPS and communications didn't seem to work anywhere in or around the forest, making it nearly impossible to even consider traveling at night. It was a technological dark spot and her only option was to drive through as quickly as possible if she wanted to make it safely there and back.

The trip to Zuun was quick, and Winema was able to get Dr. Londo's equipment loaded up without any problems. Glancing up the clear, blue sky, she decided that she should have enough time to drive back to New Metropolis and be back before dark. However, when she was about halfway into her return trip, a storm broke out. Stuck right in the middle of Rawl's wild forest, Winema made a determined decision to keep on going even though she could barely see the road in front of her, despite the valiant efforts of her car to light the way. Driving through the darkness and the rain, she was confused when she pulled up to a mansion. _What's this doing here? _she wondered as she parked the car and got out. _I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere…_

Winema found that the front door was unlocked. Upon entering the house, she shivered slightly at the chill that crept over her. She tentatively began looking through the house and paused when she stepped into a sitting room. Fire roared in the fireplace, a cushioned armchair sitting in the glow of the light. Next to the chair was a small table with food on it. Glancing around to see if anyone was there, she slowly approached the chair.

The warmth of the fire and the promise of food were too much to resist. Winema gratefully sank into the cushioned comfort of the armchair, reaching for some bread and cheese as she did so. After eating her fill, she sat back in the chair. Her tired eyes began to close as she finally allowed herself to relax.

Suddenly, the door on the other side of the sitting room slammed open. Her eyes flew open in shock and her hands gripped the armrests on either side of her. She froze when she heard a low, menacing growl from somewhere behind her. A dark shadow moving along the edges of the firelight was all she was able to make out as a voice snarled, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Shrinking away from the mysterious voice, she stammered, "I- I was lost. Um, in the woods, and I—"

She cut herself off as the owner of the voice rounded the chair, the firelight allowing her to see him. What she saw was a monster. A long mane of black hair with a streak of white gave way to grey fur that covered the body of this creature that was something from out of a nightmare. His long black jacket matched with black pants gave him an only slightly human appearance that was offset by sharp teeth and clawed hands. His face was twisted in anger, golden eyes blazing.

"You're not welcome here!" he roared.

"I'm so-sorry."

The beast's eyes narrowed. "What are you staring at?" he snapped.

"Noth-noth-nothing!" Winema barely managed to answer. Her throat seemed to have closed up on her. She launched herself from the chair and raced for the door. The beast moved with unsettling speed to cut off her escape. She stumbled backwards in her attempt to keep from colliding with him.

"You've come to stare at the beast, have you?" he accused, striding forward threateningly.

"Please, I didn't mean any harm!" her voice was pleading. "I just needed a place to stay."

"And now, you'll never leave it!" the beast barked as he grabbed her arm, dragging her from the room to the basement below where he locked her in total darkness.

…

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. When her mother hadn't returned from Zuun when she said she would, Tinya was starting to get worried. She stayed near a phone in case her mother called, but she heard nothing. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a shrill ringing shattered the silence. Quickly scrambling to answer the call, she answered breathlessly, "Hello?"

"This is Dr. Londo speaking. Has your mother returned from her trip?" he asked conversationally.

Hearing Dr. Londo's voice set Tinya on edge. Though her mother had done her best to keep her daughter from knowing the truth of her situation with Dr. Londo, Tinya had long since figured out what was going on. She had spent years perfecting the art of eavesdropping on her mother's meetings and knew that Dr. Londo had blackmailed her mother into helping him. As long as he was around, neither she nor her mother was safe.

Tinya thought fast. If he suspected that her mother hadn't obeyed his orders or that something was wrong, he'd consider the deal to be off. She had to convince him that everything was alright, somehow. Clutching the phone, she said, "She called earlier to let me know that she was able to get everything taken care of that she needed to today, but she's still in Zuun. Apparently, the weather there is pretty bad, so she won't be able to travel through Rawl until it clears."

"Hmmm… Well, in that case, I do hope that she makes it back safely," he said amiably. "I will be expecting a call tomorrow to let me know where things are at."

Tinya was careful to keep her voice even as she said, "I'm sure she'll be glad to give you a call as soon as she gets home."

"Good-bye, Miss Wazzo."

"Good-bye," she responded before hanging up. She sagged against a wall, relieved that she had managed to buy her mother some time. Straightening up, she ran to her room and started throwing clothes into a duffel bag along with her wallet. Once she finished packing, she grabbed her car keys off the hook by the front door on her way out. She locked the house and tossed her bag into the passenger side before starting her car. Tearing out of the driveway, she headed to the only place where her mother could've gotten lost and not had a way to contact anyone. She was going to Rawl.


	2. Chapter 2

_Parts from Beauty and the Beast belong to Disney. Here is the second chapter of my AU. Let me know what you think._

Chapter 2

The storm did nothing to deter Tinya as she drove straight into the heart of the forest. Her mother must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up getting lost. Though she had no clear plan, Tinya wasn't just going to wait around and do nothing to find her mother. She swerved to miss a falling branch and found herself on a muddied, overgrown path. Deciding to see where it led, she drove until she came up to a large mansion. It was there that she found her mother's car parked out front.

Tinya pulled the hood of her jacket on and looped the strap of her bag across her body as she left her vehicle. She approached the foreboding mansion. Taking a deep breath, she opened the front door. "Hello? Is anyone here? Hello?"

Silence greeted her. Digging into the pocket of her duffel, she pulled out a flashlight. She turned it on as she started down the front hall and made her way through the house. A noise from behind her caused her to whirl around, shining the light along the floor to find the source. An orange cat with vibrant green eyes strode into view.

Tinya laughed in relief. She crouched down to pet the cat. "Can you help me?" she asked, not expecting any real answer from the purring feline. She was surprised when the cat walked a little distance away, then paused to look at her over its shoulder as if it wanted her to follow it. She didn't know where it would lead her, but it wasn't as if she had any better ideas. The cat led her through darkened rooms until it came to a door at the end of a hall towards the back of the empty mansion. Sitting down, the cat's eyes looked from her to the door handle where she saw a key sticking out of a hole.

Reaching out and turning the key, Tinya opened the door. Almost immediately, she found herself face-to-face with her mother. "Tinya, how did you find me?"

"It doesn't matter," Tinya said, grabbing her mother by the hand and pulling her out of what looked like a basement. "What matters now is that I found you, and we have to get back before your absence is noticed."

Her mother stopped and shook her head. Her voice was urgent as she said, "Tinya, listen to me. I want you to leave this place. There isn't time to explain, but you must go now."

"No, I won't leave you!" Tinya argued, ignoring her mother's attempts to push her away.

Suddenly, she was jerked backwards and spun around by her shoulder. The hand that had grabbed her vanished, leaving her to stumble into a wall. She was able to regain her stance with some help from her mother.

"What are you doing here?" an unfamiliar voice growled.

Tinya looked in the direction of the voice, but she had lost her flashlight when she had bumped into the wall. The only light that shone in the otherwise dark hallway came from a side window and showed her just a vague shadow of the newcomer. "Who are you?" she asked.

"That is none of your concern," the voice snapped sharply.

"I've come for my mother. Please, will you let us go?"

Tinya held her breath as she waited for the stranger's response. She had no idea who or what she was dealing with. She only knew that both she and her mother were at this stranger's mercy. That is, if he had any.

"No." The word rang out like a death sentence. "This area is forbidden to outsiders. No one has ever entered this place and been allowed to leave. You shouldn't have trespassed," the stranger said coldly. "If I let you go, then there's nothing to stop either of you from telling others what you've seen, and they too will come."

"Please," Tinya tried again. "At least let my mother go."

"Tinya, no!" her mother gasped.

Ignoring her mother's protest, Tinya continued on. "Unless you want the science police invading your forest and home, you'll let her go free. As a Senator, her absence will be noticed if she's not back in the city by tomorrow."

"And what's to stop her from sending them in after me anyway?" the stranger challenged.

"Me," Tinya answered. She forced herself to keep her voice steady. "I can take her place here. As long as I'm here with you, she'll have to keep her promise."

"Tinya, no! You don't know what you're doing!" her mother exclaimed, gripping her shoulders and turning her around. "This is madness, what you're suggesting. I won't leave without you."

Tinya reached up to pull her mother's hands away from her shoulders and hold them in hers. "Mother, please. This is the only way. You have to go back. The doctor is expecting you tomorrow," she said, not wanting to go into further detail with the stranger listening in. She knew by the slightly tightened grip of her mother's hands on hers that her message had been received.

Pulling away and turning back to the stranger, Tinya asked, "Will you let her go?"

"Only if you promise to stay here forever," the stranger responded.

"You have my word." Tinya stepped forward into the moonlit area of the hall with her head bowed. She sensed more than heard the stranger approach her. Lifting her head, she stifled a gasp at the feral eyes and canine features that regarded her warily. She saw his eyes narrow at the hood that still hid part of her face. Carefully, she pulled down her hood so that they were both equally open for the other to see.

His gaze flicked over to her mother as he said, "Take your vehicle and leave. Don't tell anyone about what you've seen, and don't ever come back. If you disobey any of these instructions, then she will be the one to pay the price. Am I clear?"

"Yes," her mother's response was soft and broken. She walked up to Tinya and as she hugged her, she whispered, "I will find a way to make this right. I promise."

"I know, Mom. I know."

…

After escorting the girl's mother from the mansion, Timber Wolf made his way back to where he had left her in the same sitting room he'd first found her mother. His way was blocked halfway down the hall by a cat. Morphing into an orange boy with green eyes, the shapeshifter faced his brooding companion.

"That was nicely handled," the boy said, crossing his arms. "I hope you're planning on giving our guest a better room than the basement, Timber Wolf."

Timber Wolf glowered at the shapshifter until he threw his hands up in the air.

"Okay, fine. Whatever, have it your way," he said as he disappeared down the hall.

His eyes turning to the door, Timber Wolf grasped the handle and let himself into the sitting room. He saw the girl curled up in the large armchair that he himself usually occupied. Grey eyes met his, worry and loss swirling in her gaze. He paused to look at her. Dark hair cascaded down her back, a stark contrast to her pale skin. She was young, probably no more than seventeen or eighteen. Though he could tell that she was frightened, he had to admire the fact that she hid it well.

"Come with me," he said, finally. "I'll show you to your room."

"My room?" she asked in surprise. "But I thought—"

"Do you want me to put you in the basement?" he snapped irritably, hating the guilty feeling that rose up within him.

"No." Her grip on her duffel tightened.

"Then follow me." He turned away from her confused look and left the sitting room. As she followed him through the house silently, he made an attempt to make up for his earlier behavior. "I…um, hope you like it here." Her gaze left the floor and shifted to him. "The mansion is your home now, so you can go anywhere you like, except the West Wing."

"What's in the West Wing?" she asked, sounding too interested in the answer for his liking.

"It's forbidden," he said, cutting off that line of questioning. He didn't speak again until they reached her room on the second floor. Opening the door to let her in, he told her, "If you need anything, just ask."

The girl nodded as she took in her surroundings. Satisfied that she would be alright for the moment, Timber Wolf turned to leave. He stopped mid-step when the girl suddenly said, "Tinya."

"What?" He looked back and saw her staring at him.

"My name is Tinya," she repeated.

"Timber Wolf," he found himself responding automatically. Shaking his head slightly, he backed out of her room and left her to get settled in. Her presence in his home was going to take some getting used to. Change was not something that came easily to him. He needed space to figure out how he was going to handle it.

…

Reep waited until after Timber Wolf had left Tinya's room to go and knock on the door. When it opened slightly, he waved in greeting. "Hi there, my name is Reep. Since it looks like you'll be staying with us, I wanted introduce myself to you."

The door opened wider. Tinya leaned against the doorway, cocking her head to the side. "I thought that no one else lived here."

Reep shrugged. "It's a long story, but Timber Wolf and I go way back. If you like, I can show you around tomorrow."

"That would be nice. Thank you," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I gotta say, that was a very brave thing you did for your mother."

Tinya shook her head. "I did what had to be done. There was nothing brave about it." She bit her lip as her eyes shined with unshed tears. "I had no other choice."

Seeing that Tinya was upset, Reep immediately wanted to help. Her world had changed in the course of a single evening, and a change like that would be hard on anyone. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he said, "Don't worry, Tinya. It'll turn out all right in the end. You'll see."

She nodded wordlessly and took a step back. She held the door for a moment. "Thanks, Reep. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night," he responded as she slowly closed the door.

He turned on his heel to go in search of the mansion's other occupant. He was almost certain that Timber Wolf was going to need help dealing with the sudden upset of his solitary lifestyle. For many years, there had just been the two of them in the mansion. Reep was more than used to Timber Wolf's temperament and desire to be left alone most of the time. With Tinya now in the picture, however, things were going to have to change. She didn't seem like the kind of person who would do well being left on her own for days on end. It was going to be up to Reep to figure out a way to balance the two and ease the transition as they all struggled to make adjustments to this new way of life.

Reep found Timber Wolf stowed away in a distant part of the mansion, the same part that Tinya had been told was forbidden. The West Wing held bad memories, painful memories, for both Timber Wolf and Reep. It was the place where both of them had been subject to horrendous experimentation that had made them into what they were today. Timber Wolf was standing near the window of the lab, looking at glass that had been shattered long ago.

"What are you doing here?" Reep asked as Timber Wolf walked over to a table nearby and picked up a black box.

Reep saw a glow emanating from the box when Timber Wolf removed the lid. Moving to take a closer look, he saw that the glow was coming from a glass orb. The glow enhanced the feral glint in Timber Wolf's eyes as he picked up the orb and held it in his hand. "Do you see this?" he asked, ignoring Reep's question. "This is a spell that was given to me by a sorcerer named Zyx right after I became a monster. He said that the spell had the power to turn me human again, but that there was one thing missing."

"And what is that?"

"I have to find someone to love me the way I am." Timber Wolf snorted. "Apparently, that love is the final ingredient that this spell needs to work."

"Is that why you agreed to let the girl stay?" Reep asked tentatively. "Do you think she might be the one?"

Timber Wolf placed the orb back in its box, shaking his head. "Of course not. She is only here because I don't want anyone invading my home. We're safe here. Besides, look at me." He gestured to his face. "There's no way that anyone will see past this." He started to leave the lab. "It's getting late. You should go to bed."

Reep followed Timber Wolf out of the lab. He waved slightly in parting when they approached the point in the West Wing where Timber Wolf's room was located. Continuing on to his own room, which was on the second floor down the hall from Tinya's, the shapeshifter began to consider what it might take for the girl to see who Timber Wolf really was underneath the beast. For the first time, he had hope that things really would be all right. Someday.


	3. Chapter 3

_Parts from Beauty and the Beast belong to Disney. Here is the third chapter of my AU in all its unedited glory. I'll try to work on it some more when I have time, but for now, I'd appreciate your feedback._

Chapter 3

The next morning, Tinya was pleased to find a fully stocked bathroom attached to her room. After a shower and new change of clothes, she wandered the mansion in search of the kitchen. She was closing the door to what had turned out to be an empty room when she heard a noise from behind her. Spinning around, she saw the orange cat from the night before. It cocked its head to the side curiously and meowed at her. She laughed at her own jumpiness and addressed the cat. "I was wondering where you went."

The cat looked at her for a moment, then got up and led her once more through the mansion. When they came to the kitchen, the cat turned to her. She took a step back as it started changing its shape. Soon, there was no longer a cat in front of her, but instead there was—

"Reep!? _You're _the cat?"

"Yeah," he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I can shapeshift into pretty much anything."

"Anything? Even people?" She had never heard of such a power before.

"Even people," he said as he started gathering food items and laying them out on a counter. "It's pretty useful for when I have to go get supplies and stuff."

Tinya held up a hand. "Wait a minute, are you telling me that you can come and go as you please?" She wrapped her arms around herself. "If you can leave, why come back?"

Reep sighed, handing her some fruit. She looked at it, then up at him, but didn't move to take it. He placed the fruit on the counter in front of her. Neither of them moved, the silence dragging out until he answered, "Look, Tinya, I realize that this situation's difficult for you right now, but you have to understand, Timber Wolf is my friend. This is the only place where we're safe from everyone else. I'm the only one who can safely enter the city and return without being detected. If anyone were to find us, we'd both be in danger."

"From what?" she asked, needing more of an answer than that. If she was going to be staying here, she wanted to know who and what she was dealing with. From the little she'd seen, secrets seemed to live in the very walls as if they were part of the mansion itself. Secrets were dangerous and came with a cost. The one secret she'd had was being used to blackmail her mother and had led her to give up her freedom so that it would never be brought to light. Now, she was done with secrets. She needed answers.

"From scientists, police, normal people…" He paused. There was a haunted look in his eyes as he said, "You lived in the city. You should know what it's like. They wouldn't see either him or me as a person. We'd have no rights, no protection, and there'd be nothing to stop them from taking us away."

Tinya looked down. She couldn't deny the truth in his statement. The city wasn't safe for people like them. _Like us, _a small voice whispered in her head. Her gaze flicked over to Reep, who was watching her in concern. With his orange skin, pointed ears, and two antennae, someone like him would be an instant target for the science police to take way. _Or Dr. Londo, _she thought, realizing that despite their different appearances, Timber Wolf and Reep were just like her. They just wanted to be left alone to live their life in freedom.

"People fear what they don't understand, and they let that fear control them," she said, shaking her head, "but that doesn't make it right." She looked up at the shapeshifter. "I'm sorry, Reep."

"That's okay," he said, seeming pleased with her answer for some reason. "It's only natural for you to have questions. Anything else you want to know?"

Tinya thought for a moment. Though she did have more questions, the one she was most curious about was, "What's Timber Wolf's story?"

Reep's smile fell. "That… is something you'll have to ask him."

"Oh." She bit her lip, casting about for something to change the subject. She didn't want Reep to feel like he was being put on the spot or anything. Her question could wait. "Well… um, could you maybe show me around the house then?"

His face brightened back up, and she felt herself smiling in response. After they ate a simple breakfast, he started at the top floor and worked his way down. The top floor's rooms were filled with boxes and seemed to serve as a sort of storage area, which Reep said hadn't been sorted through in years. But the second floor, where Tinya's room was, had multiple bedrooms. Each had a full bathroom attached, and in addition to the bedrooms, there was also a studio. The dust collecting on the scattered brushes and easels made Tinya sad, though she couldn't say why.

As they descended to the first floor, she thought she caught a glimpse of a dark shadow nearby, but when she turned, there was nothing there. Her eyes continued to look around the extravagant house, taking in the beautiful art that she hadn't been able to see in the dark last night. Reep showed her to the sitting room, which she had seen the night before, and to a study with a carved desk that had papers stacked in neat piles next to a cup of pens and pencils.

"This is where Timber Wolf comes to work. He spends a lot of time researching different things and finding ways to keep Rawl safe," Reep explained as she trailed her hand along the edge of the desk and sat down in the cushioned rolling chair behind it. When she spun the chair to take in the full room, she heard a slight strain to Reep's voice. "Actually, we should probably be going. He doesn't really like people to be in here."

She stopped the chair. Placing her elbows on the desk, she propped up her head on her hands. "But he said that I could go anywhere I like," she said with a grin, silently adding, _except the West Wing._

The exasperation on Reep's face made her laugh. She pushed the chair away from the desk, getting to her feet and moving towards the door. "Relax, I was just kidding."

…

Reep had no choice but to follow when Tinya grabbed his arm and led him out of the study to continue his tour. He shook his head, wondering if Timber Wolf had really known what he was doing by having her stay here. Her natural curiosity was going to lead to trouble, he was sure of it, but there was something about her that he knew was special. He already knew she was brave to make the deal she did with Timber Wolf, but it hadn't been until this morning when he had learned that she was also kind and understanding. Instead of siding with the normal people like her, she had faulted them for their fear of the unknown and even apologized for things being the way they were.

He about panicked when he saw Tinya starting to climb a set of stairs off to the side. She looked intrigued by the shadowed stairwell's tucked away position. "What's up there?"

"Where? Up there? Nothing. Absolutely nothing of interest at all in the West Wing. Dusty, Dull, and boring. Very boring," he said, quickly taking back over his role as tour guide as he dashed up the stairs to block the way.

"Oh, so _that's _the West Wing."

_Damn it. _Reep bit his lip. He had to do something to get her away from here or Timber Wolf would have a fit. His situation became worsened when she said, "I wonder what he's hiding up there…"

"Hiding?" He could have cursed his voice for coming out as a squeak. "Timber Wolf is hiding nothing!"

"Then it wouldn't be forbidden," she reasoned and went to step around him.

He backed up a step and blocked her way again. "Perhaps you'd like to see something else?" he asked, praying she'd let it go. "We have a TV room and—"

"Maybe later." She took another step, making him back up as well.

"The gardens, the music room, or the library?" Now he was throwing out suggestions, anything that came to mind. Anything to get her mind off the West Wing.

"You have a library?" Her eyes lit up.

Reep breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, we do! With books! Gads of books! Mountains of books! Forests of books!" He was aware that he was going way overboard with his enthusiasm, but his nervousness was hindering his ability to keep from babbling. Leading her back down the stairs, his mouth kept running in an attempt to keep her focused on what the library had to offer. "Cascades of books! Swamps of books! More books than you'll ever be able to read in a lifetime! Books on every subject ever studied, by every author who ever set pen to paper or uploaded to the computer…"

He trailed off and turned around when he reached the library doors, but she was nowhere to be found. He swallowed deeply. He should never have let her out of his sight. Timber Wolf was _not _going to be happy about this.

…

Timber Wolf was an early riser most mornings, and so he'd had enough time to put the anything the girl might need into the bathroom before she woke up. Making his way silently to the door to leave her room, he paused to look back at her for a moment. She was curled up on her side in the middle of her bed, clutching one of the pillows on top of her blanket. In her sleep, she looked calm and relaxed, unhindered by the loss of her mother and her freedom. Last night, she had caught him by surprise with her willingness to stay before she even knew what he looked like. His grudging admiration had only increased when her only reaction to his appearance was a slight gasp. Not many people would be so calm about coming face to face with a monster.

Still, he kept out of sight as he shadowed her throughout the morning. He cocked his head to the side as he watched her approach the cat, who he knew was Reep, and talk as if it were the most natural thing. He wondered why Reep had chosen to appear as a cat to lead her to the kitchen, but he supposed it had something to do with the shapeshifter's desire to make things easier on the girl. He felt a sense of approval when the girl's reaction to Reep's shapeshifting held only surprise and not a trace of fear or prejudice at the display of metahuman ability.

_"If you can leave, why come back?" _the question filtered through the wall, causing Timber Wolf to stiffen. He shoved away any guilt he felt to focus on the conversation going on in the kitchen.

_"Look, Tinya, I realize that this situation's difficult for you right now, but you have to understand, Timber Wolf is my friend." _The sentiment was not lost on Timber Wolf as he listened. Being the way he was, he sometimes forgot that he was capable of having a friend at all. The monster he'd become had a tendency of being ill-tempered and prone to occasional bouts of violent rage. He listened as Reep's voice continued,_ "This is the only place where we're safe from everyone else. I'm the only one who can safely enter the city and return without being detected. If anyone were to find us, we'd both be in danger." _

_"From what?" _Timber Wolf immediately sensed wariness and suspicion, which he assumed came from the girl. After the way she had handled things last night, he had to wonder, why was she suddenly on edge now? What was she nervous about?

_"From scientists, police, normal people…"_ There was a slight pause before Reep said, _"You lived in the city. You should know what it's like. They wouldn't see either him or me as a person. We'd have no rights, no protection, and there'd be nothing to stop them from taking us away." _

Timber Wolf closed his eyes. What vague good memories he had of the city were tainted by the harsh truth that he could never go back. His family had once had a life there, a good life. Then, it had all gone away when his father had moved them to Rawl. Despite the mansion his father had built as a way to keep his mother happy when she lived in the middle of nowhere, what she'd really wanted was for his father to be more of a father and less of a scientist. It was a hope that she never saw fulfilled before she died.

_"People fear what they don't understand, and they let that fear control them,"_ he opened his eyes at the sound of the girl's voice, _"but that doesn't make it right." _He felt the girl's genuine sadness and regret when she said, _"I'm sorry, Reep."_

_ Sorry? _What did she have to be sorry for? If her strong sense of disappointment was anything to go by, he doubted that she was one of the people she spoke of. No one could feel that kind of compassion for something they feared or despised. This girl was different, full of surprises. He couldn't even begin to guess what was going on in her mind at any given moment. Her unpredictability was unsettling. For the past five years, his life had been fairly the same day in and day out, but now her presence here had upset that delicate balance he'd struggled to achieve since his transformation into a beast at the age of sixteen.

_"What's Timber Wolf's story?"_ The girl's question immediately brought his attention back to the conversation in the kitchen. He didn't realize that his hands were curled into tight fists until they relaxed at Reep's simple answer that she would have to ask him herself. His story was the last thing he wanted her to know. His past was in the past, and it needed to stay there. What he'd been through was no one's business but his own.

Timber Wolf disappeared from the hall outside the kitchen as he heard them making plans to tour the mansion. He figured he'd heard enough for now. Besides, he had things to do. Going to the computer room, he accessed Brainiac, a computer intelligence that he'd originally created but that had eventually evolved its own programming to where it was a consciousness all its own.

_I see we have a guest in the house, _Brainiac said as he checked the forest's surveillance systems for any intruders.

"She's going to be staying with us from now on. I want you to make sure that she doesn't leave the house unless I say so." His eyes narrowed as he caught sight of at least four robots roaming the forest. Their presence meant that his father was looking for him again. After checking their location, he decided that he could wait to deal with them for at least another hour before they were close enough to be a threat.

_And if she attempts to leave?_

"Let me know immediately," Timber Wolf said, checking the other cameras for signs of his father's robotic intrusions. Satisfied that there were only the four he'd seen, he turned his attention back to the human intrusion in his house. "Where are they now?"

_Currently, Reep has completed his tour of the second floor and is now preparing to show our guest around the first floor, _Brainiac answered.

"Thanks." Timber Wolf got up to leave. He left the computer room and silently went to the stairs where he was almost seen by the girl coming down with Reep. Only his knowledge of the hiding places in his house, combined with his speed, kept her from spotting him as he went the opposite direction of where they'd went. He wanted to use the opportunity while they were downstairs to drop off some extra things that he thought she could use. He went to the third floor and opened the first door he came to on his left. Behind the door was a room where he'd stored all of his mother's belongings after her death. Gathering clothes, hair accessories, and a music player into a box, he carried the whole bunch down to the girl's room and placed the box next to her bed.

Seeing that it was getting dark outside, Timber Wolf asked Brainiac what time it was. When the answer turned out to be only 3:17, he attributed the darkness to another storm coming. Still, he was fairly certain that the two downstairs hadn't bothered stopping their tour for lunch, so he went in search of them. His walk turned into a run when he caught scent of Reep's panic near the library.

One look from him had the shapeshifter babbling, "T, I swear I didn't know she was going to do it. I thought that she was right behind me, but when I turned—wait!" he called as Timber Wolf snarled and turned to the only place she could've gone that would explain Reep's reaction.

The West Wing.

…

Tinya felt only slightly guilty when she managed to give Reep the slip and make her way back to the hidden stairwell. She didn't even hesitate to mount the steps, despite the warnings ringing in her head. She knew she was taking a dangerous risk, but she needed to uncover the secrets hidden here. All she had ever heard about this place was that Dr. Londo had moved his family here many years ago before fleeing Rawl because he claimed a monster had killed his son soon after his wife died, but those were rumors. What she needed now was the truth, because if his story was true, then it was possible that Timber Wolf was the monster. However, it was just as possible that Timber Wolf had been born like that and had taken over the abandoned mansion as a refuge from the world. Either way, she needed to know.

She crept quietly through a short entryway at the top of the stairs and carefully opened the solid metal door she found at the end. To her relief, it opened soundlessly. She ducked into the room, closing the door behind her and fumbled for a switch that had to be somewhere on the wall. With a slight _click, _light flooded the room to reveal what had once had been a lab. She inhaled sharply at the dried blood that was splattered on a table with snapped restraints and all over the floor. She looked down at the ground when she heard a crunch beneath her feet and saw shattered glass. To her left was a broken machine and smashed computers. To her right was a cage with its door hanging half-off as if the metal had been bent by something incredibly strong. There were deep claw marks marring various surfaces in the lab, tearing through plaster and metal alike. The only thing in the room that seemed to be intact was a table next to a window where there was a black box sitting on top.

Curiosity prompted her to approach the desk to see what was so important that this box be displayed so neatly in the wreckage of the lab. Removing the lid, she saw a small glass orb nestled in a pillow of black silk to protect its fragile contents. She found the golden glow of the orb intriguing since she'd never seen anything like it before. Wondering if she could figure out what it was, she reached out to touch it.

A shadow fell over her right before clawed hands shot out to slam the lid back on the box. She jumped back in surprise as her eyes widened at the sight of an angry Timber Wolf. The red and gold gaze blazed like twin pools of blood surrounded by fire, immobilizing her with their intensity.

"Why did you come here?" His voice was a low growl of barely suppressed rage.

Frightened at this unexpected turn of events, she backed away. "I'm sorry, I—"

"I warned you never to come here!" he roared before she could form an explanation.

"I didn't mean any harm." She felt her back bump against the broken machine behind her and moved along the side of it to get closer to the door.

Timber Wolf stalked closer, smashing his fist on the table and leaving a dent. "Do you realize what you could have done!?" he shouted. "Get out! GET OUT!"

Tinya turned and fled from the room, not slowing her pace as she ran straight for the front door of the mansion. She collided into it and desperately pulled at the handle, but it didn't budge. It was locked. When she heard footsteps behind her, she glanced over her shoulder. Reep was coming through the foyer, asking, "Where are you going?"

"Promise or no promise, I can't stay here another minute!" she said, pushing on the door. _C'mon you can do this, _she thought as she tried to find that ability she knew she had somewhere in her to phase through objects. It wasn't until after she heard Reep begging her to wait that she finally felt something _give_ and she fell through to the other side of the door. Quickly picking herself back up, she ran to her car, grateful that she'd worn the same jeans that had her keys still in the pocket. Once her car roared to life, she slammed on the gas to get the hell away from the nightmarish things that she'd seen.

She couldn't believe it. The stories were true. It was the only thing that made sense. The secrets, the forbidding of the West Wing, the blood in the lab… Timber Wolf had been trying to hide the truth from her. He was the monster that killed Dr. Londo's son. What she didn't understand was why he had let her or her mother live in the first place. If he'd killed once, surely killing again wouldn't be a problem. And Reep. How did he fit into all of this? Her thoughts were a jumbled mess that came to a sudden halt when the front end of her car smashed into something big and made out of metal.

…

Timber Wolf's rage came out of nowhere. One he'd seen the girl holding the only hope he had at regaining his lost humanity, he'd snapped. This area was supposed to be private. He'd expressly forbidden her to be here! This was his past, his secrets, his life! She had no right to intrude like this!

Her grey eyes had widened in fear when she realized that she'd been caught, and her fear tore at him. She was looking at the monster because, right now, that's what he was. Uncontrolled anger thrummed in his body, making him shout out a threat, or maybe a warning. He didn't know which. All that mattered was that she get as far away from him as possible.

"Get out! GET OUT!"

And she had. She ran from him, leaving him alone in the wreckage of his past life with only a useless spell contained in a glass orb to give him any hope of a future.


	4. Chapter 4

_Parts from Beauty and the Beast belong to Disney. Characters belong to LOSH. Reviews are both encouraging and helpful, so please let me know how I'm doing._

Chapter 4

_Timber Wolf, we have a problem. The girl—_

"Brainiac, now's not the time," Timber Wolf snapped. "Whatever she's doing, I can deal with it later. Right now, I need to be alone."

_I am afraid that is not possible, _Brainiac said. _Per your instructions, I am notifying you that not only has our guest attempted to leave, but also that she has succeeded in doing so._

"What!? How is that possible?" Timber Wolf shoved bits of wreckage out of his way as he fought to get to a working computer screen.

In answer, Brainiac turned on the screen. A video of the outside front door of the mansion appeared. At first nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but then the girl tumbled through the solid mass without having to open the door. She landed hard on her hands and knees, picked herself up, and ran to her car.

Surprised, Timber Wolf raised an eyebrow at the display of the girl's hidden powers. No wonder she understood the danger that normal people presented to metahumans. _She's one of us. _

"Show me where she went," he instructed as he watched the car tear out of the driveway and into the forest. The computer screen blinked as it switched to the view of a different camera that followed her trail. Her car zipped through the trees without any real sense of direction until— He froze. Everything seemed to stop as he watched her car slam into the robots that his father had sent for him.

_No, no, no!_

He was out of the mansion and on her trail in a heartbeat, but he had no way of knowing what he'd find at the end of it. Trees flew past in a dark blur as he sped through the forest with a single-minded focus to find her before it was too late.

…

Tinya shook her head to clear the haze surrounding her vision. She blinked a few times, bringing into view a large metal robot that was currently tearing the top of her car open. She lunged for the door and managed to scramble out of the wrecked vehicle. She quickly regained her footing on the uneven ground as she started to run. Her escape was cut off by the arrival of three more metal monstrosities. Slowly, she backed away and looked around. To make matters worse, she saw hideous monsters prowling around the outside edges of the circle as they eyed her like a piece of meat.

Surrounded on all sides, she had no idea how she was going to make it out of this alive, but she wasn't going down without a fight. She kept her eyes moving as she slowly knelt to take a large branch in her hand to use as a weapon to defend herself against the animals. She doubted that it would stand up well against the robots. Swinging the branch in a wide arc, she managed to hit one of the creatures that had ventured too close for comfort, but she immediately had to duck under a red blast from the robot in front of her. As the creatures backed away from the attacking robot, she took the slight opening she found and ran. She didn't get far before she was yanked back by a metallic vice-like grip around her arm. She tugged at her arm in an attempt to pull away, but she knew that it wouldn't work unless shephased her way out. The problem was, her ability wasn't something she knew how to control. After so many years of keeping it hidden, she had no idea how to phase on command. She was caught.

A loud roar reverberated through the forest, grabbing her attention. Out of nowhere, Timber Wolf landed on top of the robot. The robot released its hold her and moved to attack him instead. Tearing through the metal with his claws, he made quick work of destroying it. As he tossed the broken robot away from him, their eyes met briefly. In his predatory gaze, she saw things that she couldn't decipher. He no longer seemed angry. Well, at least, no longer angry at _her._ When a growl sounded from behind her, she saw his eyes narrow at the oncoming threat as he launched himself at her would-be attacker. His rage exploded, less controlled, more violent than she'd seen even when he'd found her in the West Wing. He became a blur of motion among the hideous creatures, taking them out left and right.

He took one out with a swipe of his claws. Another one proved more difficult, and he sustained a hard hit to his side before he managed to chase it off. He grabbed the horn of a charging monster and rammed it into a nearby tree before turning to snarl at a catlike freak of nature that had managed to claw him in the shoulder. He was bleeding from a bite on his arm and he had cuts from monsters with claws as sharp as his own, but he didn't let any of that stop him from fighting.

While his hands were full with the nightmarish creatures, Tinya had finally figured out how to make herself intangible. She knew from a past accidental experience that phasing through an electronic device could stop it, and she intended to use that knowledge to take out the remaining robots. Or try to, anyway. Jumping from a branch that she'd swung herself up onto earlier, she grabbed hold of a robot heading for Timber Wolf. Placing her hand on the back of where she thought its control systems were located, she focused very hard on phasing her hand through the robot's head all the way up to her arm. She shoved off of the robot as a high pitched beeping noise started emitting from the robot as electricity crackled from the ruined operating systems. She quickly repeated a similar process with the other two robots, destroying their electrical systems just as Timber Wolf was fighting off the last of the creatures. After he tossed one of the bigger beasts against a tree with a sickening _smack_, the pack of monsters backed away from one they now recognized as an unbeatable threat.

"Timber Wolf! Find cover!" Tinya shouted as the beeping of the three robots increased in both noise and speed. She knew they only had moments before the robots were going to explode. Despite the fact that he was swaying slightly on his feet, Timber Wolf moved towards her with astonishing speed.

She was knocked to the ground as he shielded her body with his so that he would bear the impact of the blast when it came. With his hands on either side of her, Timber Wolf hovered only inches above her. She looked into his burning red and gold eyes and saw a determination that frightened her. He would die if she didn't do something.

Tinya squeezed her eyes shut, tears of effort escaping as she searched for any remnant of phasing ability she had. At first, there was nothing, and then she started to feel something start to change. The beeping had reached an intolerable pitch; detonation was only moments away. Tinya gripped the front of Timber Wolf's tattered jacket and opened her eyes to see him watching her, resignation and regret evident on his face.

"Stop looking at me like that," she forced through clenched teeth. "I'm _not_ going to let you die." She imagined becoming intangible and – straining with an effort so intense that made her hands start to shake – she willed that intangibility to spread to him as well.

She felt her powers extend to him, just in time, as the robots exploded one right after the other and nearly cried in relief when it was all over. They were both safe. She released her hold on Timber Wolf as he rolled to the side, lying on his back. His eyes closed in exhaustion, his breathing uneven. Tinya moved so that she was kneeling next to him and placed his head in her lap. She wanted to go for help, but she couldn't just leave him there alone. How was she supposed to handle this?

The sound of shouting reached her ears, and she looked up to see Reep running towards them. "Tinya! There you are. I—" he stopped short at the sight of Timber Wolf. "What happened?"

"No time to explain," she said. "Right now I need to know if you can carry him back to the mansion."

"Yes, but—"

"No buts! Just do it, now!" Tinya snapped. She didn't want to be sharp with the young shapeshifter, but time was of the essence. She had no idea how far Timber Wolf's injuries extended, and she wanted to get him home as quickly as possible. She had a promise to keep.

…

Regaining consciousness, the first thing Timber Wolf noticed was the scent of jasmine mixed with lavender in his room, followed by a soft voice. _"I think I've just got one more wound to patch up."_

_"He's a fast healer,"_ he heard Reep say nervously. _"This really isn't necessary. He'll be fine in a few days. You should get out before he wakes up."_

_"Reep, we've been over this. I don't care if he has advanced healing abilities or not. Cleaning the dirt, blood, and goodness knows what else out of a wound keeps it from getting infected,"_ the girl said evenly.

"What is going on?" Timber Wolf asked as he finally opened his eyes. Propped up in his bed by pillows, he saw a small table nearby with a bowl of slightly steaming water and bandages.

"You're awake!" the girl sounded unexpectedly relieved.

"Obviously," he said, looking down at the bite marks he saw on his arm and picking at a piece of dried blood. He couldn't bring himself to look at the girl. She had seen him surrounded by blood and carnage as his rage broke free in a grisly display of violence that had shown him for what he was, a monster. In that moment, he had become exactly what he feared.

And she had witnessed it all.

"Don't do that," the girl scolded, reaching for him with a damp cloth in her hand. "Just… hold still."

He snatched his arm away from the stinging sensation almost as soon as the cloth touched the open wound. Any reservations he had at what he might find by looking at her vanished as he glared at the girl. "That hurts!"

"Stop being such a whiny little puppy." The girl impatiently snapped him with the cloth. There was no fear in her eyes, and she actually seemed to be rather annoyed with him. In other circumstances he might have found her reaction amusing. "If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much," she said, grabbing his arm again, her grip firmer this time as she managed to clean the bits of dirt and dried blood completely away.

He scowled at her. "Well if you hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Well if you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!" she argued back, shoving the cloth back into the bowl of water and splashing liquid over the side.

He stared at her, his mouth open. Closing it, he started again. "Well _you_ shouldn't have been in the West Wing!" he said, refusing to let her have the last word.

"Well _you _should learn to control your temper!" the girl irritably snapped while she snatched a bottle of antiseptic and poured it onto a fresh cloth.

Since he had no response readily available, Timber Wolf stubbornly looked away from the girl's accusing glare. He saw Reep nervously standing a few feet away as he watched the exchange between him and the girl. The shapeshifter seemed to be torn between wanting to help and not knowing how to do so.

The girl's voice drew his attention back to her when she said, "Now hold still. This may sting a little."

Timber Wolf let out a surprised hiss of pain before gritting his teeth as she applied the antiseptic. He said nothing while she carefully wrapped a white bandage around his arm. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the concern on her face, a look which belied the snarky comments she had just exchanged with him. He sensed that underneath her irritation, she was genuinely worried about him. He ignored the strange feeling that this revelation brought.

"By the way…" He looked at her as she spoke. "Thank you, for saving my life."

"I believe I should be thanking _you_," he responded. He cocked his head to the side and watched the girl as she stilled beside him. She ducked her head, her hair falling like a curtain between them to hide her face. But he didn't need to see her face to know what she was feeling. _Guilt. Fear. Shame. Worry. _He could sense it all.

"What's wrong?" he asked when the silence became too much for him. Normally, silence wasn't something that bothered him. He could go days at a time without speaking to Brainiac or Reep when he wanted to be left alone, but now he found the girl's silence worrying. Still not giving him an answer, the girl got up to leave. He quickly cast about for the name she'd given him the other night and called, "Tinya?"

She stopped. Her hands clenched at her sides, and her shoulders tightened.

Reep and Timber Wolf exchanged a look. The shapeshifter gave a silent nod of acknowledgement and left the room as Timber Wolf swung his legs over the edge of his bed and stiffly got up. He paused for a moment to let the room stop spinning and steadied himself. After a few experimental steps, he made his way over to Tinya and touched her shoulder.

She turned to him and there was a glimmer of unshed tears in her eyes that inexplicably made him want to do something, _anything_, to take that look away.

"I don't deserve your thanks. You were right; this whole mess _was_ my fault. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" He was confused.

She wrapped her arms around herself. "I made you a promise that I wouldn't leave, and I broke that promise because I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?" he asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. The last thing he wanted to hear was that she was afraid of him. His breath stilled as he waited.

"Afraid that…" She hesitated. "That you were a killer." The next part came very quickly, her words almost running together as she said, "I went into the West Wing looking for answers. I had to know the truth behind all the rumors and secrets. When I saw the blood and the shattered machines, I assumed that someone really had died in there and that you were the one responsible." She stopped herself and closed her eyes, a tear escaping down her cheek. "But I was wrong. You risked your life to save mine. There's no way it could be you."

Timber Wolf sighed. For so long his thoughts, past, and secrets had been his own and in his seclusion away from the city, he hadn't known about the stories surrounding his home. By forbidding Tinya to enter the West Wing, he'd only sparked her search for answers and led to this whole mess. With her now living in his home, he realized that some secrets could no longer be kept to himself. While he wasn't going to reveal _everything_ to her, there were questions that he could answer for her if it would give her peace of mind. He took her by the hand and led her over to his bed so they could sit down.

"Tell me what you want to know, and I'll answer you as best I can," he offered.

She took a deep breath and said, "Who are you, really?"

"I'm one of many experiments that went wrong." He leaned back against his pillows. "The scientist who lived here lost his wife and became consumed with his work. He was convinced that he was creating life, enhanced genetic research to create an ultimate being. Those creatures you saw in the forest were some of his early experiments. Reep and I are two of his later ones. The scientist was obsessed, insane to the point that he even used his own son as a test subject. That's whose blood you saw in the lab."

Tinya was silent.

"I knew him well, but, you're right, I didn't kill him," Timber Wolf continued. "The experiments did that. After he died, I chased the scientist away from here and told him to never come back, but he still sends robots from time to time to see if he can catch more test subjects."

"Which is what would have happened to me if you hadn't come." Tinya pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her eyes were sad. "People with metahuman abilities are always a target for people like him, which is why I've fought to keep my powers a secret ever since they manifested and also why I don't know how to use them properly." She blushed, embarrassed at the admission.

"Actually, I think you managed to use them fairly well." He grinned.

"What_ever_." Tinya rolled her eyes and laughed.

He tilted his head to the side and realized he could get used to that laugh.

Unfolding her legs and getting up, Tinya told him that it was getting late and that he should get some rest. He thanked her once more for her help, to which he noted another slight blush on her face before she simply told him, "You're welcome" and left to go to her own room for the night. As soon as he was alone, he went to his bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror to see the extent of his injuries. Most were shallow enough that they'd heal in a couple days. As he saw the neat, white bandages that Tinya had used to cover the deeper wounds, a stray thought that crossed his mind.

"Brainiac?" he called out.

_Yes?_

"Can you check to see if Tinya has any injuries from our run-in today?" Timber Wolf tensed as he asked the question. He really should have asked earlier. Heading back to his bed, he waited for Brainiac to complete his scan.

_She sustained some injuries, but nothing serious,_ Brainiac reported.

The information only made Timber Wolf feel _slightly _better. He made a mental note to check in on her tomorrow. "Thank you, Brainiac."

_Indeed. Good night._

"Good night." The lights in his room flickered out, making it easier for Timber Wolf to try to find sleep. The day's events had tired him out, and he had a feeling that he was going to need all the rest he could get. Adjusting to having another person in his life wasn't going to be easy, but he owed it to her to give it his best effort.


End file.
